A Careless Man's Careful Daughter
by Neko-Tenchi
Summary: She dosent belive in love, but when she desids to proove her friend wrong by accepting the next boy to ask her out, she never expected Uchiha Sasuke to be...so different. In fact, he might just take all her skeptical beliefs and throw them out the window.
1. Prologue

**HEY THERE EVERYONE, I KNOW I PROMISED MY SASUKE/OOC STARY FISRT, BUT IM STILL PLANNING THAT ONE WHILE THIS ONE CAME TO ME IN THE SPANCE OF FIFTEEN MINIUTS AND I WANTED TO WRITE IT DOWN WHOLE I STILL HAD THE DERTERMINATION.**

**SO PLEASE ENJOYS THE PROULOUGE OF 'A CARELESS MAN'S CAREFUL DAUGHTER'**

**PROLOGUE **

* * *

The sound of screaming and arguing echoed thought the Haruno house that day.

"Ritsuko don't you dare lie to me" the angry man yelled at his equally angry wife. They were fighting, they always fought. They fought everyday and every day the fights got worse and worse. The man had even taken to hitting his wife too, and in retaliation she would scream and walk off. They just didn't seem to ever get along.

But the arguing this time seemed to be worse as the man swiped his hands along the surface of the kitchen table, throwing all the plated and cups to the ground where they smashed into a million pieces. "I know you slept with him Ritsuko, don't you dare lie to me" he repeated for the thousandth time.

And for the thousandth time, Ritsuko Haruno denied his claim "I didn't Luke! I promise, and even if I did it wouldn't be surprising."

"What's that supposed to mean!" he roared.

"You're never home! You're always working, going to business dinners with your stupid slutty Sectary, what do you care If I fucked the whole bloody neighbourhood."

"Don't bring Karen into this Ritsuko, and you admit it, you slept with him!"

"For the last time, I didn't!" she screamed. Ritsuko was a pretty woman, with long pink hair and soft blue eye's, she was tall and willowy with a slightly wide forehead that didn't diminish her beauty. But now her pretty face was consorted with anger as she yelled back at her husband.

She was so fed up with this bloody man. He worked all day and all night, completely disregarded her while he flirted all he wanted with his sectaries and yet called her out for sleeping with the mailman because she smiled at him when he gave her, her post! She hated this life and she hated him!

Luke Haruno was a handsome man as well. He was tall, muscular but not fat, with light blond hair and green eyes. But her was a proud man who held onto his pride with every part of his being, even for his family he refused to back down and admit he was wrong."You slept with him, admit it, why else would you want a divorce?"

"Perhaps because I don't want to be with you! You bastard, I hate you"

"You love me!"

"I don't love you and I haven't for q long time, I hate you and I didn't sleep with him, I want a divorce because I hate you, you bastard man!"

"Don't you fucking talk to me like that you useless bitch!" he yelled and before Ritsuko could dodge his hand came out and slapped her round the face, his wedding ring cutting her lip and drawing blood.

He looked in horror as he froze with the realisation of what he had done. The truth of the matter was, Luke did love his wife, to some extent, but he loved the power he had over her more. But in all their marriage, he had never hit her hard enough to draw blood before. When Ritsuko looked up he knew that this was it.

He had finally gone too far.

But he refused to admit it.

"Ritsuko, you listen to me..."

"No" she said in a deadly quiet voice "you listen to me for once. I am leaving today and I'm never coming back; I loved you and everything we had together once. But now, I don't even want to look at anything that will remind me of you. I'm leaving today and I'm never coming back, damn my things and damn you!"

From the door way, watching the entire exchange between her parents, as a small eight year old girl. Her hair was pink and her eyes were green and her heart was also fed up. She hated seeing her parents fighting like this, it scared her. She watched her father hit her mother, she watched him freeze, she watched her mother began speaking. Half way through, it was too much and the girl just turned and ran off.

She ran right out of the house and stopped in her tracks when she realised she had no shoes, and it was dark. She was terrified of the dark.

She was scared, she wanted someone to come and help her, someone help!

Then she heard something behind her, turning the girl saw it was her mother with a suitcase.

Perhaps she had come for her?

But Ritsuko only glanced at her daughter before sighing painfully, she loved Sakura, but she had meant what she said when she said she couldn't stand looking at anything that reminded her of Luke. She meant _everything._ Even their daughter, the one with his green eyes.

She looked down at the trembling girl and said simply "I'm sorry Sakura, goodbye."

And with that she walked away and left Sakura alone in the darkness.

Sakura felt her heart break.

Why didn't her mother and father love each other? And why didn't they love her?

And she watched her mother walk away and leave her all alone in the dark.

Again.

* * *

**THAT WAS A BIT OF A PROLOGUE, I HOPED YOU LIKED IT, I JUST WANT TO GIVE A WARNING THAT SASUKE WILL BE A LITTLE OUT OF CHARATER I THIS STORY. BUT THATS BECAUSE SINCE IT'S AN AU, I THINK I CAN MAKE HIM OUT OF CHARATER, PLUS HIS CLANS ALIVE IN THIS ONE, NO ONE KNOWS WHAT HE WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE SHOULD HIS CLAN NOT HAVE DIED, SO I CAN MINX THINGS UP A LITTLE WITH HIS PERSONALITY.**

**I PROMIST HE WILL BE MUCH MORE IN CHARATER WITH THE SASUKE/OC FIC IM GONNA WRITE.**

**PLEASE REVIEW, REVEIWS MAKE ME SMILE AND WRIGHT FASTER!**


	2. Chapter 1

**WOW! SO MANY REVEIWS, IM SO HAPPY! THANKYOU EVERYONE!**

**HERE'S THE NEXT CHAPTER **

**AND BECAUSE I FORGOT LAST TIME, I DONT OWN NARUTO FOR THIS AND THE LAST CHAPTER**

**CHAPTER ONE**

* * *

_You were at collage _

_Working part time, waiting tables_

_Left a small town_

_Never looked back_

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke was not having a good morning. He had spent all night last night working the midnight shift at the Cafe and now he wanted to strangle Naruto for daring to set an alarm lock for him.

Why wouldn't the stupid inconceivable thing just shut up?

Perhaps if he ignored for a little while it would kindly see that he's not interested in getting up today and all he wanted to do was sleep, and _shut up!_.

Thankfully, the alarm clock seemed to get the message as it switched off and Sasuke too in a deep breath and promptly went back to sleep...

...for about four seconds, before the sound of his roommate banging into his new room send his head spinning. "Oi, Teme!" Naruto yelled as he kicked Sasuke's bed "wake up, didn't you hear the alarm?"

Sasuke groaned and hid his head under the covers. He and Naruto have been friends since they were in diapers, they grew up together and were there for each other their entire lives, they even shared an apartment together as college men. He was like Sasuke's unofficial brother.

But god be his witness, if that Dobe didn't get out in ten seconds flat Sasuke would sadly have to strangle him dead and find himself a new roommate.

Naruto didn't seem to mind his murderous best fiend as he opened the curtains.

Sasuke hissed like a vampire being exposed to light, he really wasn't a morning person. His ebony hair was sticking up in all sorts of odd angels, his face looked smooched from sleeping on his cheek all night and his eyes looked like all they wanted to do was close.

Close like their lives depended on it and Sasuke agreed with them entirely.

"Naruto, why the heck are you in my room, waking me of all people up at..." he looked at his clock and gritted his teeth to stay calm, but his vice was forced "...five in the bloody morning!"

Naruto looked at Sasuke like _he_ was the crazy one.

"What do you mean, get up, were late. Do you have any idea how far away the college is from here, honestly Teme, and you call me and idiot?"

It took Sasuke ten seconds exactly to register what Naruto had just said.

1 second: he blinked

2 second: he yawned and completely disregarded what had Naruto said

3 seconds: he glanced at his alarms clock

4, 5, 6 and seven seconds: he registered exactly what Naruto had said

7 and 8 seconds: all the colour flooded from his face

9 seconds: his eyes widened

And finally, 10 seconds: he shot out of the bed crying "OH SHIT!" as he jumped of the bed with a new vigour and grabbed the towel Naruto held up for him and ran to the bathroom.

Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, SHIT!

How the heck had he forgotten?

Today was his first day at this college. Well this one anyway.

Sasuke used to go to Tokairo University in his home town, a small place near Hokkaido. But he had wanted to travel more, see the world. Do more with his life.

His dad had wanted him to stay in the own, because he was mayor there and it made a better impression if he stayed. It wasn't as if he didn't like his town, he loved it. It was great. It was just that it was too...small.

There was a whole world out there.

So when he and Naruto studied their buts off to get into this college in America, his older brother had stepped in.

Man, he really owed his brother for this...not that he didn't owe him for about a million other things as well but you know, just keeping track. Itachi had gone to his father and somehow with his magic touch managed to convince Uchiha Fugaku to let his younger son go away to college in America.

It wasn't the best college, but Sasuke hadn't really wanted to go to a really fancy college in Washington. He wanted some realism, because it made him feel a little closer to home. Although Tennessee wasn't as cold as Hokkaido it was still nice to see everyone living in towns like back home.

But the problem was, he and Naruto shared an apartment that was eight miles away from the College in the nearest city Konoha, so they had to wake up every morning to get their on time.

And he was making a brilliant first impression by being late on his first day!

He finished brushing his teeth and washing his face and ran out, he looked for a comb to run though the shag carpet that was his hair at this moment.

He ran out to find to his dismay that Naruto of all people was dressed before him. "Get your but in gear Teme!" he said, throwing him his comb.

Really, when Uzamaki Naruto was prepared before SASUKE then things were bad.

* * *

And half hour later and they were finally seated in Naruto's truck on their way to school. Naruto was dressed in jeans, black T-shirt and an orange bomber jacket with his green goggles on his forehead. Sasuke, still to this day did not know why he wore those.

"It's called style Teme" Naruto would always say.

But in Sasuke's opinion, if that was style, then he was the Queen of England.

He himself was dressed in jeans as well, only he wore a dark blue polo neck shirt and a black waist coat. His hair was brushed but still spiked out behind him in a way that contrary to popular believes was completely natural for him.

He watched as the scenery went by, it was really actually pretty good. Nothing like the snowy countryside of Hokkaido, but not bad.

There were a lot of farms though. Horse farms, pig farms, goat farms, apple farms you name it. If it was produce, Sasuke saw a farm for it.

"Oi Teme, stop being all silent over there, it's creeping me out, say something."

That was another thing. Sasuke himself was a little unsocial, someone who preferred having one or three people around him at a time while enjoying his personal space. Naruto was extremely social and needed to be around people and felt a little lost when he was alone. And yet they were best friends! What were the chances?

Eventually Naruto began to dive into the town.

It wasn't really a city, more like the biggest town out the lot. He liked it; it reminded him of his town in Hokkaido. Then Naruto pulled up at the college, it was one of those modern buildings with a touch of elegance to remind us of our past. The stone steps leading up to the oak doors reminded him of the stairs you might see before a museum.

Getting out of the truck Sasuke swung his blue backpack over his shoulders and slammed the door shut. Already he had grabbed the attention of a few girls hanging by their car as they looked at him with interest. All blonds and brunettes, Sasuke ignored them. He wasn't interested those phoney types like that.

In Hokkaido, he had had many girlfriends like that, being the mayor's son and one of the most popular boys in high school. They were all made up and plastic, only interested in having something nice to have on their arm to show off to other females, and he found it really annoying.

This year, this time, he wanted something genuine. His aim was to have a good year at college, make some friends, get good grades and get a girlfriend that didn't give him headaches every night.

"So Dobe, where's this pen-pal of yours?" he asked, referring to the boy Naruto had met online and had gotten to chatting with. He had promised to show him and Sasuke around the school when they got to America.

"Dunno" Naruto shrugged "He said he'd be here when he could.

Then they heard someone shout "Naruto, hey Naruto!" they both turned to see a boy with shaggy brown hair and strange magenta tattoo's on his cheeks. With him was another boy in a heavy coat and black sunglasses and a girl with long black hair and gray eyes, she was looking down shyly while trying not to bump into anyone.

"Yo Kiba!" Naruto said grinning "about time you showed up. "This here's the friend I told you about. Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke raised one hand and said the opening line of his old science teacher "Yo"

Kiba nodded "Hey, this is Shino" he pointed to the boy "and Hinata" he gestured to the girl. "So where you guys bunking?"

"In this apartment in another town, about eight miles from here." Sasuke answered.

Kiba kissed his teeth "man, that's rough, I live in a town four miles away and even that's tough, do you work?"

"Yeah" Sasuke nodded "I wait tables at this restaurant in this town, Roe's Café"

"I know that place" Kiba nodded "good food, cure girls, and they let dogs in."

"Dogs?"

"Kiba's family own the animal click in the next town" Naruto said slapping the boy on the back. Kiba grinned "Yeah, the Inuzuka care home for animals, my parents pride and joy. Anyway, let's get going, before class starts. Hina, Shino, you wanna come?"

The boy Shino shrugged while Hinata stuttered "O-Ok s-s-since I have n-nothing better to do."

Sasuke nodded and looked up at the college that he would be studying at for the next few years. Then he stopped when something caught his eye.

A girl was walking up the steps with her blond friend. He knew she was her friend because the girl was looking at her with warm expression in her deep green eyes. She was, well beautiful. She had long pink hair, tied back with a white headband. She was tall, but had curves, unlike a lot of the girls there. Her skin had a healthy flush to it; she waked with her back straight due to her holding some of her books in her arms rather that in the pink backpack on her shoulder.

She had a small smile and then suddenly she her face broke out in pearls of laughter at something the blond girl said. And he felt a weird pins and needles sensation. Her face looked so animated; he was astounded by her smile.

She was beautiful, but there were many beautiful girls. There was just something about her that drew him in, perhaps it was how expressional her face was, she was genuine. She was different.

Kiba noticed where Sasuke was looking and laughed "Hey man, don't go making moon eyes at her, she's off limits."

"Why?" Sasuke said "Who is she, is she dating someone?"

To this Kiba laughed "As if! That there is Sakura Haruno, Luke Carsons's daughter, he owns peach farm a little off from this town. She doesn't date, at all."

"What do you mean, she doesn't date." He watched as Sakura, (cool name by the way, Japanese?) walked into the building and she disappeared from view, but that pins and needles feeing he got when he saw her still hadn't gone away.

"What I mean is that girl has never had a boyfriend, she went on a couple of dates what she was in high school, after that she stopped. When ever someone asks her out, she flat out, turns them down."

"Hey, who you talking about" Naruto piped.

"Sasuke was just checking out the girl I told you about, you know? Impossible Haruno."

"Oh her." Naruto nodded "I heard all her friends are either girls, gay or already with someone."

"Yeah" Kiba nodded "Man know your easy on the eyes and all, but just forget about her, she's waaay out of your league. Go find some nice agreeable girl, no one needs someone as complicated as that."

But as they walked into class, Sasuke thought to himself with a smile '_but I like complicated'_

* * *

Sasuke stretched and cricked his neck as the bell went signalling his last class for the day.

Finally…was what he wanted to say.

"Hey Sasuke" Naruto clapped him on the back "Me and the others are going down to the peer for a bit, you coming?"

"Sorry, can't" Sasuke shrugged "I gotta work, remember?"

Naruto nodded "Bummer man, I feel sorry for you." Naruto was adopted since his parents were dead. His grandfather Jiraiya was a famous novelist who made a lot of money and sent some to him every now and again.

Sasuke however, the one catch to his father letting him go to America was that he would only sent a money package for the school. But anything else like rent, food and thing Sasuke wanted, he would have to earn himself. Itachi tried to help out a bit, bit he was studying business in university himself and didn't have much to spare.

Sasuke didn't mind, though, while he wasn't too happy with his job, he didn't mind working for his meals for once, it was, interesting and real.

So he stood up and waved at Naruto "See ya" he called, before running off. While doing so, he glanced to his right. Luck would have it that Sakura was in most of his classes. She was also packing up her stuff while talking to Ino, the bond girl he had seen that morning.

She disappeared from his view as he ran out to his job.

Tomorrow he would talk to her, despite what Kiba had said about being, 'Impossible Haruno.'

* * *

**HIYA, HOPED YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER.**

**I WANNA POINT OUT THAT THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE SET **_**THE NEXT DAY**_**, SO DON'T GO THINKING THAT THIS ALL HAPPENED ON THE SAME DAY, THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE THE NEXT DAY!**

**OK THEN, PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT.**


	3. Chapter 2

THANKS GUYS, YOUR COMMENTS AND REVEIWS ARE REALLY SWEET, YOU MAKE ME WANT TO WRITE EVEN FASTER SO I'LL DO MY BEST AS LONG AS YOU GUYS KEEP IT UP WITH THE REVEIWS.

**ANYAY, REMEMBER, THIS IS TAKING PLACE, THE DAY AFTER SASUKE'S FIRST DAY AT COLLEGE.**

**CHAPTER TWO**

* * *

_I was a flight risk_

_With a fear of falling_

_Wondering why we bother with love_

_If it never lasts_

* * *

Sakura woke at five in the morning on the dot. She had trained herself to do so because her father wasn't due to wake up until at least six so that meant she could wash, dress, and prepare breakfast for her father before he could wake. Past experience thought Sakura that as long as he had breakfast, a paper and lunch in the oven ready to be heated up, her father was…better, than he usually was.

When Sakura was eight, her parents divorced and her mother went back to Japan. Sakura was half and half, her father was American and her mother was Japanese. Ever since her mother had abandoned her, she had been dumped off at Luke's since Sakura had no other family members that could afford a child. She supposed that perhaps she should be thankful that Luke didn't ship her of to some orphanage.

Luke Carson was a proud man. And as long as she submitted to his pride then she and he were able to get along to some extent. She was standing by the fryer now, flipping two eggs sunny side up and five rashers of Bacon. The smell was divine, as a batch of coffe blended in the coffee maker beside her. The toaster popped and Sakura stopped what she was doing for a moment to slide the hardened bread onto a plate. Next came the eggs. The bacon wasn't finished yet however.

"Girl, is my breakfast finished yet?" came a rough growl.

"No father, please wait a few seconds." Sakura replied quietly, without turning to look at him. Her father used to be a business man, but then a few years ago one of Sakura's great aunts died and left a Peach farm to her father, so then they moved to Konoha to which she was glad. The memories weren't as sad here and she had friends. Ino, Ten-Ten, Neji and Lee, when he wasn't constantly declaring his love for her.

Most people believed him to be gay because of the spandex suit he always wore and his close relationship with the gym teacher, Coach Guy. But Sakura knew he was straight first hand. He just wore spandex because he honestly thought it was cool and his relationship with the teacher was because they were cousins and his role model. Even though Sakura usually didn't like hanging out with boys who liked her, she tolerated lee because lets face it, as annoying as he was he had this lovable quality that Sakura couldn't bring herself to hate him.

Ino was her best friend and Ten-Ten was dating Neji. Sakura liked her friends; she saw no reason to surround herself around anyone else when all they wanted was a popularity boost.

Sakura slid the bacon onto the latte and poured the coffe. Then she set it down before her father who grunted and started eating. Luke used to be tall and handsome, but over the years he had really let himself go. He was fat, he rarely shaved and he was only healthy because of all the work he did in farm.

Sakura nodded and nibbled on her toast, she wasn't a breakfast person. Most of the nutrition of her meals came from either lunch or dinner with snacks in between.

Life with Luke was…difficult. The best way to describe it was that it felt suffocating, like she was in a room with too much pressure and she could only feel at ease when he wasn't around. She couldn't even stand to be in the room with him without feeling uneasy, as if any move she made could set him off. She would feel better sitting completely still.

It wasn't as if Luke ever hit her, never had he laid a physical hand on her before. In that way she had been safe, because he was still scarred from hitting his wife all those years ago. But just because he didn't hit her, it didn't mean he didn't hurt her. Oh no, Luke had his own personal ways of abusing his daughter.

Eventually she finished her small breakfast ad nodded to her father as she turned.

"Don't know why you even go to that school, useless wench. You should just drop out and be a slut like your whoring mother." He sneered at her. Luke didn't need a stick or a belt to break Sakura down, all he needed was his sharp tongue and his hateful words and that would always be enough. When you are put down you entire life, you begin to believe it and put yourself down.

Sakura repressed a cringe at once again being compared to her mother as she just nodded and left without a word.

Her mother, it was a constant scar in her life. Her mother had not been able to stand the sight of her because she had had her father's eyes, while her father hated her because apparently, she looked too much like her mother.

Sakura sometimes wondered why they had even married in the first place. Love? Hah! Sakura couldn't remember a time where they had not been fighting. At one point in her past, she could remember her mother saying that they were in love, but what was the point in love if it never lasted?

She sighed. This was why she saw no point in dating and relationships.

* * *

"Oi! Forehead! Forehead! ...Sakura!"

Sakura broke out of her daze to hear Ino calling her. She looked up at her beautiful blond friend to see her grinning with mischief. "Look to your left, there's a cute guy and he's _totally_ checking you out!" she whispered.

Salura sighed "Ino…"

"Come on Sakura" Ino insisted "just look at him, flash him a smile, ANYTHING!"

But Sakura ignored her and apparently to Ino's sigh, she guessed the guy got the message and went away. Ino sighed in disgust "Honestly Forehead, that guy was perfect. Dark hair dark eyes, totally your type. What's the matter with you?"

"Ino" Sakura smiled painfully "I'm just not interested in dating or in boys."

"Bullshit" Ino said grumpily as she sat back in her chair. They were on their free period in the last part of the day and were seated in the library. Ino was doodling on a piece of paper while Sakura was actually studying.

She could feel the eyes of some of the younger students studying here watching here from afar and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Really" she said to herself "is that staring really necessary?"

"Huh?" Ino turned to look where Sakura had glanced and laughed "Of course it's necessary, you're one of the most popular girls in this place, you always have been since high school, no wonder those first ears wanna get a look at you."

"But why, I'm nothing special!"

"Forehead, don't make me smack you in the head. To them you're the dream girl. Cold, quiet, cool and mysterious. Always calm and collected. Straight grades, smartest in the class, beautiful, athletic and well behaved. The perfect model student! And popular, with half the guys in this place wanting to be with you, yet you don't even bat an eyelid. You got this retro,_ 'look but don't touch' _vibe going around you, like your hiding something and no one wants to find out. It's awesome. Now all you need is to be dating the hottest guy here and you got the complete package, the whole enchilada."

"Ino!" Sakura sighed again, not letting her mask slip for a moment "What did I just tell you? Instead of trying to set me up with anyone with a male organ, you should be studying for the test on Tuesday."

"You haven't been on a date since you were fifteen!" Ino cried, startling some near-by readers.

"I really don't understand why everyone always makes such a big deal over being in a relationship, there's nothing wrong with being single."

"Nothing wrong, _Now. _But if you don't hurry, then in ten years time you'll end up that old lady down the street with the twenty cats."

"_Ino_"

"Twenty lonely little kitties from the pound."

"Ino!" Sakura gave a small giggle as she elbowed her friend in the ribs.

Ino laughed "But getting back to the serious business, you need a boyfriend."

"Ino, how many times do we need to discuss this, I don't want a relationship, love is a waste of time."

"Who said you need to be in love to have a good time with a boy!" Ino said with a smirk "when I first went out with Choji, it was just for a laugh, now look, we've been going out for two years!"

"That's nice Ino." Sakura smiled

Ino frowned "you know what I think?"

"enlighten me oh wise one" Sakura said with sarcasm.

"I think you're scared. You, Sakura Haruno, are nothing but a coward who's scared of falling in love with a perfectly nice boy."

Sakura looked up and frowned "I'm not scared Ino, relationships to me are just a waste of time, I don't see any point in getting involved."

"No, you're just definitely a coward."

"I am not!" Sakura cried. There were many things Sakura could live with being called, but coward wasn't one of them. She hated being called a coward, because it was the one most true.

"If you're scared then why won't you date, you're just afraid of being prove wring."

"That's not true!" Sakura snapped angrily. Ino scoffed "yeah right." She stood and grabbed her bag "See ya tomorrow forehead." And with that she walked off.

* * *

An hour later Sakura had calmed down completely. Studying usually did that for her. She was on her way home from the library when she passes a cafe. 'Roe's Cafe' it said. Sakura remembered coming here once before, they had awesome Apple pie. Suddenly Sakura's stomach rumbled and reminded her that all she had eaten that day was a small piece of toast. Tasty, but not very filling and she was suddenly craving apple pie. So she decided to go in.

She opened the door and heard the bell jingle. No one looked up, no one really needed to, so she just sat herself at a table by the window and picked up a menu.

Yes, they still had their fabulous pie, that and some interesting looking tropical fruit juice. That would be nice with some pie, or not. She would have to try it to find out.

Suddenly she heard the sound of arguing.

She looked up. Two or three tables before her were a young couple in a heated quiet argument.

_Flashes of a green eyes man and a pink haired woman arguing in the kitchen with a small child watching went through Sakura's mind. The child was crying, but the parents didn't notice or didn't care._ Sakura shook her head to get rid of any memories and rolled her eyes. Really, she didn't understand why everyone was so desperate to find love, it didn't last long and it was a waste of time.

Stupid Ino, Sakura wasn't a coward, she was practical.

Yet, Ino's comment was niggling away at Sakura's self-conscious and she wasn't liking it. No matter how she tried she couldn't get rid of that dissatisfied feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Coward, Hah! She's show Ino. Sakura decided then and there that she was going to say yes to the very next boy who asked her out to prove to Ino that love and relationships were just a waste of time, that they almost never worked out and there was n point trying.

With her decision made Sakura proceeded to wait for the waiter before her to finish serving the girls in the opposite table and notice her while she opened up a text book to do some more studying. She was doing some work on the works of William Shakespeare, which would be nice if she could understand a bloody word he was saying. He made no sense, why could the man just not say what he meant? _'O be some other name! What's in a name, in which we call a rose in any other name would smell just as sweet.'_

What the heck was that supposed to mean?

"Sorry miss, can I help you?" she heard a male voice ask.

She looked up and vivid green met surly onyx as she found herself looking into the darkest eyes she had ever seen.

She blinked and registered the face. It was a boy about her age; he had pale alabaster skin, black eyes and black hair that spiked up behind him. He was wearing a blue tank top and an apron with the Cafe's logo on it. In his hand was a notepad and a pencil. Sakura noticed that he was strangely beautiful for a boy and that he had also frozen.

"Yes, can I have a slice of the special, apple pie, and a glass of tropical juice with ice please?"

He blinked and came out of his daze as he threw her a smile and said in a cheery sort of way "Sure, back in just a minute." And then he left.

Ten minutes later he was back while Sakura was staring intensely at _Romeo and Juliet_ the play she was reading.

"Here you go miss, one Apple pie and one Tropical juice."

Sakura nodded to show she knew it was there but the boy did not go, instead he seemed to be reading over her shoulder.

"Romeo and Juliet?" he asked "you like Shakespeare?"

"I wish" Sakura replied despite herself "if I could understand half of what he was saying, no, I'm just reading it for a school project."

"Really? You know, Shakespeare's not that hard, actually, it's pretty easy."

"Yeah right!"

"I'm serous!" he boy insisted the he lent closer and pointed to a part Sakura had underlined and marked with a sticky note '_no clue'_. "Take this for example" he pointed to the part Sakura had just been puzzling over "It's so simple because all he's doing is comparing two concepts."

"Aright Mr. Genius" Sakura said "what dose it mean?"

The boy grinned "well, the things about Shakespeare is that because he talks in a different more poetic they automatically think that he's tailing in riddles, when actually he's saying exactly what he means."

"Get out!" Sakura frowned "no way."

"Yeah! See here, what he's saying is that she, Juliet, is saying that a rose if it were not called a rose would still smell sweet and she is comparing that concept to Romeo. That even if he were not called Romeo that wouldn't change the person he is, it's the irony of the situation that's so interesting."

Sakura looked at the line for a moment before gasping "Oh yeah, I can see how that makes sense. How did you know that?"

He shrugged "I'm really good in English, I want to be an editor when I graduate, I actually study at the same college as you Haruno-san?"

"You do?" Sakura said with surprise. But he looked her age, and she had never seen him before in any of her classes. "A bit old to be a first year aren't you?"  
"I'm not a first year, I just transferred to this place yesterday, I'm new here. The names Sasuke Uchiha"

That made more sense "well thank-you for pointing out that fact Mr Uchiha, but I..."

"Hey" Sasuke interrupted "Mr Uchiha is what people call my is what call my father and sometimes if they're brave, my older brother. My name's Sasuke."

She gave a small smile "then you should call me Sakura, because Haruno-san isnt a name i'm used to"

"Sorry, still getting used to the lack of suffixes in this country" he said sheepishly.

Sakura nodded "so you come from Japan, you're English is very good."

"Thanks'."

There were a few minutes of silence before Sasuke suddenly said "Hey Sakura, I know this is sudden, but I was wondering if maybe perhaps...you might want to go out for lunch sometime?"

Sakura was thrown for a loop as she froze "lunch? like a...date?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, tomorrow if your interested?" he said.

Sakura wanted to say no, all her instincts were telling her to say no. But then she remembered the promise she made to herself. Sasuke seemed nice, if she had to find someone to help her prove a pint to Ino, why not pick someone who she barley knew?

So she nodded "Alright Sasuke, lets say we meet here at 12 noon tomorrow?"

Sasuke's eyes widened, obviously he had heard the rumours about her and dating and had thought his would be harder, he didn't know that he and just caught her at a good time.

"Uhhh, sure, that sounds great."

She nodded "I don't men to be rude Sasuke, but it seems like you have other customers waiting."

And with that he snapped back to attention "Oh shit!" he swore and Sakura chose to ignore that one "well, I'll see you tomorrow Sakura." And then he went to wait on a very angry couple.

Sakura watched him for a moment before beginning on her pie while she tried not to think about what she had just done.

* * *

**NEW CHAPTER FINISHED. I MUST SAY I WAS A LITTLE DISAPOINTED THAT I ONLY GO FIVE REVEIWS LAST CHAPER, HOPEFULLY THIS WILL GET MORE. PLEASE REVEIW!**


	4. Chapter 3

**HEY EVERYONE, NEW REVEIWS! I'M SO PSYKED. YEYNESS!**

**HERE'S THE NEXT CHAPTER**

**AND FOR THE RECORD, I'm ONLY GOING TO SAY THIS ONCE BECAUSE EI WILL MOST LIKELY FORGET, SO FOR THE REST OF THE STORY TOO, I DON'T OWN NARUTO!**

**CHAPTER THREE**

* * *

_I say can you believe it?_

_As we're lying on the couch_

_This moment I can see it_

_Yeah, yeah, I can see it now._

* * *

Sakura sighed as she took a deep gulp of her tea and snuggled in closer to the couch. It was one of those rare times where she was alone at home. Her father had gone out with some of his friends to the pub. She flicked the channels back and forth on the small colour television in the living room, trying to find something to watch that was halfway decent, and she was failing miserably.

In the end she switched it onto a music station and reached over for her Shakespeare book and picked up reading where she had left off.

She tried thinking about it the way Sasuke had pointed put, not taking everything he says literally and at the same time not reading too deeply into it. But she still couldn't make heads or tails of anything the man was trying to say.

She gathered the actual plot. Two families that were bitter enemies. One girl loved the guy and when everyone was against them, they killed themselves by accident. End of story. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure if her teacher would accept that.

Why had she actually taken English lit? Was she an idiot or something, she hated Shakespeare and English literature always included Shakespeare.

But Sakura decided that English lit would look good on a application form to any medical institute, it showed dedication.

Thoughts of Shakespeare had her thinking of the person she had met earlier today.

Uchiha Sasuke huh?

He had the looks of a Japanese person. Because Sakura was only half Japanese, she ended up taking more after her father then her mother, giving her a westerner look instead of a Japanese one. It was interesting meeting him, she hadn't seen a lot of Japanese people around these parts other than her mother.

She was going on a date with him tomorrow.

Her first date in what? Years?

And why? Because she had been so stupid as to actually allow Ino's mind manipulation work on her.

She put the book down and sighed as she finished off her tea and sat with her knees drawn up to her chest.

Unfortunately for her, he was completely her type. Short black hair, dark eyes, and seemingly easygoing personality, the whole enchilada. Perhaps that was why it had been so easy to say yes that time. Now she was going to lunch with him.

Her father was not going to be happy about that.

It wasn't that he was protective, or possessive. No, Sakura wasn't important enough for that. It was just that her mother leaving him had made a major dent to his pride; he figured that by making sure his daughter never left him it would make matters better. But it was difficult for Sakura, because she did not want to comply with that plan. One day she was going to save up enough, she was going to find the strength to leave him behind and move on with her own life.

Someday.

Suddenly the sound of the door slamming echoed through the house and Sakura looked up to see her father walking in. He was home early!

"Your back" she said in an emotionless monotone voice.

He only grunted and went to the kitchen to make some tea. Sakura had a feeling he would put some alcohol into it, and take it to bed with him like he usually did.

This was her chance "Luke..." Sakura began.

He tuned and grunted "What!"

She flinched, but held her ground "I...I'm going to be out most of the day at the library...and I might even stay late at Ino's...since we're studying for the big test coming up." she lied smoothly.

"Huh?" Luke grunted "going out you say?" he didn't say anything at first, he only watched her with a intense gaze as Sakura cast her eyes downwards so she wouldn't meet his stare. Sakura wanted to breathe, but in a strange sense of logic she felt that if she did then it would make him change his mind and do something she didn't want, so like was some sort of charm she breathed silently and stayed absolutely still.

Finally "Alright" Luke said, scratching his head "but don't cause trouble or say anything that will humiliate me, stupid swine child that you are." And with that he stomped up the stairs.

Sakura tried to ignore the hurt she felt at his words.

It shouldn't hurt like this, Sakura truly hated Luke and when you hated someone then whenever they said something painful you usually took no noticed or at least became riled up. But all Sakura felt was hatred, sadness and pain. A lot of pain. Because even though she hated Luke, he was technically the only person she had left in the world. Since her mother abandoned her. So in a way, he mattered a little since he didn't abandon her but he still hated her. Somehow it always hurt more when the person you wanted to respect and love hated everything about you.

And Sakura did want his respect. She wanted to love her father. Back when she was a child and her parents were still together, when he wasn't rude or fighting with his wife her father had been a wonderful man. And even though he was cruel to her now, she would always remember those times and it would make it impossible for her to completely hate him. Which only left an opening for more pain and rejection.

Thinking about her mother put a scowl on her face. She shouldn't hate her mother, she didn't do anything. But if anything Sakura hated her just as much as her father, possible more. She had abandoned Sakura. Oh sure she would call once a year on her birthday and on a rare blue moon occasion she would pop over for a visit, but that didn't mean she cared about her. Her mother said she was proud of her daughter and said she loved her, but if she loved truly loved Sakura then where was she? Why did she forget about her?

She didn't care, no one cared. Sakura was alone.

Not that she needed anyone else. People, and their stupid beliefs about love. Love is just an attachment, a useless attachment that can be broken easily. It was of no use to anyone. Bonds between parents, they're just going to abandon you in the end, the only good parents are is for bringing you into the world. after that they also become of no use.

Friends are the sae. Sakura surrounds herself with friends, but TenTen and Neji both knew that there will always be a barrier between them. Even lee sees it, Ino's the only one who chooses to be oblivious. Sakura didn't really see them as friends, more like acquaintances. It wasn't that she didn't like TenTen, Neji, Lee and Ino. Oh no! That wasn't the case, if she didn't like them then she wouldn't have bothered to stay with them this long, she would have brushed them away like she did everyone else. It was because she liked them she considered them acquaintance. But not friends, just acquaintances People she knew and was friendly with but didn't see as friends. She had no friends and needed none.

Friends were useless because they always betrayed you in the end. Sakura had had friends in her old town, they all turned on her after her mother left, calling her a useless child because her father was now single. They bullied her because of her shy personality and caring actions. That was why she was so snarky and unaffected now. She put up a wall because she wanted to be alone, she didn't need only one on her side of the wall. The wall set her apart from everyone else till it was her against them and that was how Sakura chose to live her life.

She sighed.

That's right. It was her against them all. She didn't need the drama her mother brought into her father's life. To heck with relationships.

And it wasn't even her who ruined them. Those boys back then that she had dated had all come to her because they were attracted to her reputation as the cool ice-princess who was perfect in every way, but once they started dating her they became disappointed. Sakura hated selfish people like that; if they weren't serious then she didn't want anything to do with them. Go save their childish fantasies for other girls.

She didn't even do much, she only ever acted as herself, but apparently that wasn't enough for them, they all expected something else. In the end, it always became easy to drive them away. And soon, Sakura developed a personality she put on for everyone else, there were very few people who had ever been persistent enough to see the real her.

Which was what she would do to this Sasuke. when tomorrow came, she was going to drive him away just like all the others. Because just like everyone else, he wasn't allowed on her side of the wall.

* * *

Sasuke dumped his spanish text book on the ground and groaned. Right now he was about ready to commit arson to his textbook! Honestly, why the heck had he ever put his name down for Spanish? Oh yeah, to be an editor it was always good to know many languages.

People always thought it weird whenever he told them he wanted to be an editor. His older brother was in business and his father ran half his home town, then he went about telling everyone he wanted to do such a normal job.

But Sasuke didn't care; let them think what they wanted.

When he and Naruto were kids, Naruto always liked to write fiction short stories, he said he wanted to be like his grandfather who was a novelist, only he wanted to write action rather than perverted romances. And as kids Sasuke always read his stories first before anyone else because they were best friends.

The problem was, Naruto had _terrible_ grammar and spelling that Sasuke spent the majority of the time he spent reading it, trying to figure out exactly what he was reading, and it was such a shame, because Naruto was actually a brilliant writer. His stories were so realistic and animated and with the boys vivid imagination he had a talent for creating plots that kept the reader hooked and since Sasuke liked reading he was that reader a lot if the time. And Naruto's descriptions were great also, he had a talent for it from a young age but no one would have realised it if not for Sasuke.

Somewhere between the age of nine and ten, Sasuke got bored with trying to make out Naruto's story, and even though through years of practice he was actually really good with understanding Naruto's chicken scratch, what was the point f no one else could read it. Naruto was conscious of how bad his grammar was, that's why the only person who read his storied was Sasuke since he was sure his friend wouldn't laugh.

One day, Sasuke opened up his own computer and rewrote Naruto's story, editing out all the grammar mistakes and fixing all the selling. It was a bloody good thing for Naruto that Sasuke always got straight marks in English from reading so many books. But as Sasuke was editing it, he found he rather enjoyed doing so, and he took great pleasure when he finally printed out a finished, perfected copy.

Then without Naruto knowing he entered that story in a competition.

Naruto won first place.

Not that Sasuke was surprised. He was happy for his friend. Really, all Sasuke had actually done was fix the mistakes. Naruto was the one who actually wrote the story.

But after that the boys got into a routine, Naruto would write something, Sasuke would edit it. They became pretty famous for it actually. And somewhere along those lines was when Sasuke realised he wanted to be an editor.

So that's why he was taking Spanish. When Sasuke said he wanted to be an editor, he didn't mean a normal one. No Uchiha ever did anything mediocre. He could translate stuff too. He could translate and edit whole books into French, English, Italian, German, Chinese and he was learning Spanish.

When he was done with Spanish he was planning on learning Hungarian, just because the language looked interesting. It was also a good thing that Sasuke had such a good memory. It was another quality his family had, once something got into their memory...it never came out! That was why he was always so careful what he put into his mind, and why to this day he had never once even glanced at one of Naruto's grandfathers novels.

He sighed and picked up the text book.

Perhaps he had studied enough for that day. Sasuke put it aside and stretched, feeling his neck crack with the friction and his muscles unwind from sitting in that once position for so long. He sighed with contentment "Kimochii" he said in Japanese as he slumped back into the chair to catch himself. Sometimes it was nice to simple sit in silence, nothing but your thoughts to accompany you. Perhaps he might pick up on where he left off in that interesting novel he purchased yesterday, he had wanted to before. But he had studies.

But then again, when living with Naruto, you could never hope on silence for long.

"Oi Teme!" Naruto called from the kitchen, it was his turn to make dinner this week. "Quit vegetating on the couch already, turn on the TV or something, this silence is driving me crazy!"

Sasuke sighed and reached for the remote. As the soft hum of multiple voices filled the room and chased the silence away Sasuke was sad to see it go. He scratched the back of his neck and sighed again "So Dobe, what's for dinner?"

"RAMAN!" Naruto called gleefully.

If Sasuke were an anime character, he would have fallen over with multiple sweat-drops by now. "Baka!" he shouted "We had Raman yesterday and the day before that and the day before that! In fact, the only time we _ever_ seem to have a decent meal is when _I'm _doing the cooking. Is this what you spend our grocery money on all the time? And where the heck did you find a shop that sells Japanese Instant Raman...IN THE MIDDLE OF AMERICA!" This was Tennessee too, this was the kind of place where all food was stuff you grew yourself.

"Don't be stupid, idiot" Naruto said , coming to the kitchen doorway holding two cups of instant Raman noodles "The old man sends them to me via air mail and I sent him some of those weird Mills and Boons books, it's a fair deal,"

"What the heck does he want them for" Sasuke asked despite himself as he took the Raman cup, grateful that the money from his part time job wasn't wasted on this idiotic meal.

Naruto shrugged "Don't ask me to try to understand his pervy mind, as long as I get my Raman I don't care what kind of weird looks I get from buying those books."

Sasuke stopped in mid picking up of his noodles "Naruto..." he said in a dangerously low voice, Naruto took a step back. "Tell me you did not spend the money I gave you for food, on perverted books for Raman?"

"Ehhh" Naruto grinned "is that a trick question?"

Sasuke lost it.

"NARUTO!" HE CRIED "IM GONNA KILL YOU!"

Normally Naruto would match Sasuke in any fight since he loved a good brawl, except when it came to money. Whenever money was involved, Naruto knew it was never a good idea to aggravate his friend. "Ne Sasuke, calm down! I..."

"CALM DOWN? CALM DOWN! YOU SPENT ALL OUR MONEY ON BOOKS AND RAMAN! THIS IS WHY I TELL YOU TO GET A JOB, SO YOU CAN SPEND YOUR OWN MONEY ON THIS RUBISH AND NOT MINE!" Sasuke had gone way beyond calm, he was fuming. That idiot, did he have any idea what he went though for that money. "HOW THE HECK ARE WE SUPOSE TO PAY OUT RENT! YOU IDIOT!"

"That's what I was trying to tell you before you blew up on me!" Naruto shouted back angrily "I got a job!"

To this Sasuke calmed down a little "what?"

Naruto sighed with some relief "Hinata-chan found me a really good part-time job working on her father's ranch, tending to horses and stuff. The pay's great and the hours work for me because Hinata works there after school too. So I'll pay you back, promise!"

Sasuke began to calm down as he took in a deep breath "Fine" he said "but this means that from now on no more borrowing money from me, _and_ you have to pay me back for the money you've already wasted."

As this Naruto groaned "Oh come on Teme, I haven't even been paid yet and you're already bleeding me dry."

Sasuke settled himself back on the couch, picking up where he left off with his noodles. This was a good thing, now that Naruto had a job he could start using his spare money for things that he wanted. Like that interesting novel he saw in the book shop, or...

Then he thought about his date tomorrow. With their college out-of-league girl.

"Hey Dobe" Sasuke called out, stopping Naruto in his mumbling about how stingy Sasuke way "yeah what?"

"Instead of paying me back in money, how about you loan me your truck for the entire day tomorrow?"

Naruto raised a brow "Uhhh, sure. If it'll get me off the hook, but why?"

Sasuke shrugged "I have a date tomorrow; it might be good if I have a car." And with that he finished his noodles and lay down on the couch to vegetate in front of the TV for a bit. But Naruto wasn't having it.

"Eh! It's only been you're second day and you've already got a date, as expected of Teme, you always had girls all over you back home. Ne, ne, who is she? Someone in any of our classes?"

Well technically Sakura was in their English class, but only in English. Sasuke realised then that other than the fact that she had a cold, slightly arrogant and unemotional personality, she was one of the most popular girls in the collage and the fact that she was in his English class, he really didn't know anything about her. Yet for some reason, he really wanted to know.

What was it about her that had him hooked from the moment he saw her, that made it so that she was impossible to get out of his head? She was pretty, but he had seen prettier girls before. She was smart, but there were lots of smart girls. And yet out of all the other pretty, smart girls he had met in his time here, she was the girl that he couldn't forget.

Those eyes, that strange hair, that uncaring expression. In a way she kinda reminded him a little of himself before he met Naruto. But she wasn't all alone like he had been, she had friends and she was so popular. Perhaps she was just a spoilt girl who felt herself above everyone else like his classmates told him.

But try as he might, Sasuke just couldn't convince himself of that. He didn't understand it but he was really hoping that their date tomorrow might tell him a little more.

"So Dobe, we got a deal or what? I get the truck for a full day and you get off the hook from the money. And when I say truck, I mean gas included."

Naruto groaned at the gas part, but sighed "sure Teme, it's a deal." As the two shook hands, Sasuke smirked.

Tomorrow he was determined not to let her chase him away like she did everyone else.

**KIMOCHI MEANS 'FEELS GOOD'**

**WOW, I'VE BEEN GONE A REALLY LONG TIME, IM SORRY EVERYONE, ITS JUST THAT I'VE HAD A LOT OF STUDYING TO DO, COUPLED WITH MAJOR WRITERS BLOCK!**

**BUT I THINK IM BACK NOW, SO PLEASE SEND LOTS OF REVEIS TO MOTIVATE ME. NECT CHAPTER THEIR DATE!**


End file.
